Mushroom Basil Pizza and GF Product Review

Are you tired of thin, soggy, cardboard-tasting gluten free pizza crust? Do you miss sinking your teeth into a chewy pie that has a little bite?

Cry no more, pizza lovers! I have found the ingredients to make a restaurant quality pizza at home — one that can even take on a traditional glutinous pizza!

Whilst meandering the aisles at Sprouts grocery store,
I came across a new (to me) gluten free pizza crust: Schar brand. My heart raced a little as I imagined the possibilities inside the yellow box. And there were not one, but two pizza crusts included! Visions of a fresh, vegetarian pizza entered my mind. I picked up pizza sauce, along with a few other items, and hurried home.

The unopened box can be stored at room temperature, which is nice. Of course, I there was no “storing” of the pizza crust in this case. I ripped open the box and began creating The Perfect Pizza.

My pizza sauce of choice is Delallo brand. With only seven easy-to-read ingredients, it’s a fairly healthy choice for store bought sauce. It’s also gluten and dairy free! Please excuse the half-empty jar. I took a picture after I used it.

After the sauce, I added freshly grated mozzarella cheese, sliced baby bella mushrooms, roughly chopped basil, and one small tomato from the garden, sliced into four slices.

Fresh mozzarella is key in creating a restaurant quality pizza. You can find it in the deli section. Grate it yourself at home. Or have your kid/spouse (same thing) grate it – he needs something to do. Freshly grated mozzarella cheese will take your pizza experience to the next level.

If you’re dairy free, I recommend Daiya brand cheese alternative. It melts like cheese and tastes like the real deal. Or you can create a pizza without cheese — add extra veggie toppings instead. Please note that this particular crust does contain milk.

It’s hard to tell from the picture, but that crust is thicker than most GF options. I was so pleasantly surprised! I baked that baby at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, and this is what emerged from the oven:

I ate 1/2 the pizza for dinner, and saved the other 1/2 for lunch the next day.

A couple of things to keep in mind about Schar pizza crust: First, corn syrup is listed as an ingredient (if you’re concerned about that sort of thing). Second, a serving size is 1/6 of the crust, and one serving is 130 calories. The real world would consider this a small sized, 1-2 serving pizza. Remember, just because it’s gluten free doesn’t mean it’s calorie free. If you’re trying to lose weight, consider adding a salad and eating less pizza.

I’ve added a new handy dandy recipe gadget to my blog! Let me know if you completely love it. Or if it totally sucks. I need to know!